The Weekly Froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy.

Track of the week: ‘Good To See You’ by Walter Jackson (Marvin & Guy Disco DeLuxe edit)

This one starts with a deep bass sound, and the track kind of teases you the first couple of go arounds, as you expect it to burst out, but instead Marvin & Guy go for the slow build-up. Sure, at one point there’s a bit of percussion, and some other secondary sounds, but the bass, thats where it is at for a loooong time on this one. After the two minute mark though, there he comes, the strong vocals of mister Walter Jackson, and Marvin & Guy do a tremendous job to get all those sounds really out and into the spotlight. From the newfound horns to the backing vocals, and surely including those Jackson vocals, which are lovely deep and soulful. And I guess that’s what you get when you do that slow build-up, focussing purely on that deep bass sound. Then when you add the trumpets, the vocals, and all those other things ripped from the original 7” probably, those just jump out at you, which creates this amazing effect. And when the message is as positive as Good to see you my friend, then how can one resist this edit?

‘Let’s Make Love Tonight’ Sleazy McQueen edit

Sleazy McQueen knows how to make a disco edit, he has proven that many a times. The fun starts at about twenty seconds in with the bass that he throws in there, which will get people to put their dancing shoes on. Love the short stints of horns (horns & bass, THE combination, of course), and he lets those horns loose after about 1:20, where they fully start complementing the sound that has ballooned to a sizeable number of instruments by now. Sleazy McQueen throws a few changes in there, like at 1:50, and around 2:10 he pulls down the volume to let the vocals walk down the aisle uninterrupted. Those vocals, obviously, offer to Make love tonight, underneath the disco lights, and what else were you planning to do at the discotheque anyway, eh? Sleazy McQueen, as said, just knows how to do this. How to keep that base chugging along in various incarnations, and then just for a brief spell add some horns, for a brief spell add some guitars, for a brief spell add whatever. And all these sounds make sure that the song A) keeps moving along, B) has enough variation, and C) has plenty of those sexy disco vibes. Lets make love tonight indeed.

‘True Indeed’ by Son Of Sound

Son of Sound takes this into the house realm with the beat and that layer of synth that he has laid down on top of it. Half a minute in he adds some percussion to bolster the rhythm section, which always assures a few extra people dancing no doubt. He has the looping going, and at the end of a run he pulls away the percussion, which is like the cue for a new layer to come in. Which, the second time this happens, is a voice talking about how fucking amazing it is that someone gained sooo many Twitter followers in so little time, and I’m pretty sure that there’s no sincerity in that at all as “none of that shit matters”. In the mean time the track is going on with some lovely house sounds, which certainly are enticing to dance to. Love the flow of the thing, Son of Sound just have the rhythm section working with the beats and percussion and even the synth adding to that. Ready for the club, this is.

‘San Salvador’ by Azoto (Jam Master re-edit)

Get that Latin groove on, because this one starts with the percussion to be shaking those hips too. After about half a minute of that the bass comes in, and just before the minute mark you get those old school disco sounds to communicate to the audience that, yessir, it’s disco time. After a brief stretch of horns you get the high pitched vocals coming in, which get a bit of help in the chorus from the girls at the back when the ode to San Salvador gets started. Not only vocally the references are there, but that guitar just after the chorus (and many more instruments in there as well) sure transport you to the place in question. The vocals are really high paced, with the beat luckily restraining the song just a tad. And occassionally that beat gets a bit of a rest and is relieved by the bass on rhythm duties. It is a fast paced, fun, party song daring you to resist trying (and failing, in my case probably) to bust out some sexy latin dance moves.

‘Spring’ by Kai Alce (KZR reprise)

Get ready for this one and its near ten minute running time, and it certainly builds this one up slowly to get you in the right state of mind. Steadily it gets there though, especially when it adds that little bass line in there to add a consistent base sound for a while, then you know that at one point it is going to pull that one through and get you dancing. Just before the two minute mark, you get an extra percussion sound that whispers in your ear what is coming, and just after the two minute mark the beat is put in to get it all going. Still with some easy-street guitar on top of it, giving it this jazzy vibe. Like the guys having a go at jamming it. You’ve got the beat now forming a steady base sound, and on top of that you get those jamming sounds instead of just another batch of loops of another batch of instruments.  And that’s the lure of this track, really. That guitar that keeps on playing right on top of the dancing sounds, that bass that weaves itself in and out in all kinds of variations, and then some on-and-off extra percussion as well. It gives it this kind of free flowing vibe you’d expect to encounter in some hip, smoke-filled bar off of main street. Free download, by the way.

‘Ritual Union’ by Little Dragon (Yam Who? remix)

Little Dragon is already an album along, one that has some ace tracks on it of its own (‘Killing Me’ is a personal fav). Here we have the, in my opinion, best track of that album before, and Yam Who? decided to put on their SoundCloud their entire 9 minute mix of this one. In all its glory. It’s got this lovely dreamy vibe (those violins certainly help for that one!), and naturally there’s that lovely, lovely voice singing about those ritual unions, and how they’ve got her in trouble again. In the mean time the track is driven forward by this lovely, deep beat that is in a lovely lower-to-mid range, just pacey enough to keep this one going, but also not fast enough to steal the show from all these atmospheric things that make this remix into a complete gem. It’s got the dreamy, melancholic vibe of the original track down pat, but it has turned it into a nine minute groover instead of a 3 minute (synth) pop song. At about 4:40 there’s the drop of the rhythm section, with just the vocals and, first, the keys, and then, the violins. After that Yam Who? puts in a nice rhythm synth to go along with the beat, changing the sound up a tad and making it just a bit more catchy and dancey as well. Definitely the second half of the track has a bit more punch to it. Surely worthy of a listen, I reckon, especially if, like me, you completely loved the original to begin with.

The Weekly Froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy.

Track of the week: ‘TNR’ by Kasper Bjorke feat. Jaakko Eino Kalevi

Kasper Bjorke is readying a new album, and for this song he has enlisted Jaakko Eino Kalevi, who recently released an album of his own. I happened to catch him not too long ago live as well, which was well fun. Here he lends his dreamy, airy vocals to Bjorke’s equally dreamy, yet darker arrangements. Especially the part after the vocals, like the one just after the minute mark, has a sense of deeper trouble. And not only the synth tapestries cause that, but also the way the drums are used. When Kalevi sings there’s a deeper bass sound that keeps the balance in those moments, and the synth and Kalevi seemingly reverse roles in the verse thereafter where he drops his voice and where Bjorke ups the synth. I really like Bjorke, his singles are always pure ace and as always I’m curious to see what the album is going to be like. Here you just see his ear for sounds, the way he alternates the deep sounds with the higher pitched ones, how he switches things up, and how he manages to create a mood through all of that. He’s doing some London DJ dates in September, around the release date of his album, which will also feature, amongst others, Nomi Ruiz on vocals.

‘Tiny Stars’ by Leo Zero ft. Candi Godbold

Leo Zero is coming with a new album, and this is a new cut off of that. It starts with a nice bassline and, what seems to me, plates that are being shattered. The rhythm builds, the synth comes in, and all of this is happening as the backdrop for the vocals of Candi Godbold, which have this minor Bjork quality to them, very atmospheric and whispery. When the vocals get a rest you really notice the bass that effortlessly gets this track to the next vocal bit. During the vocals you get loads of synth sounds to assist her, and for the parts without the vocals Leo Zero lets the rhythm do the talking, with the bass as his main priority. So if you like your bass sounds, this one is there for the dancing. I also like the deeper vocals going ooooohhh-hooooo-ahhh-haaa for the atmosphere, though the bass takes the cake in this seven minute affair, with Godbold’s voice giving it extra uniqueness points.

‘What Goes Around Comes Around’ by MJ (Young Pulse Rework)

Never not a good time to bust out an MJ (as in, Michael Jackson) track, as it is something that gets everyone dancing. Young Pulse takes an oooooldie, with MJ’s voice still oozing innocence over a plethora of strings. Young Pulse knows when to take back some sounds and just make it some conga’s as rhythm, because at times you just want to make sure that MJ gets the room to shine. At about 2:40 there’s a break in the action in terms of the vocals, and there’s a jazzy interlude that Young Pulse has decided to throw in there with some solos and stuff. It’s a pretty smooth ride, no huge drops or anything like that, which is probably the way to go. All the transitions seem natural, and with the percussion and extra keys in the interlude parts it gives it something festive and holiday like. So happy vibes all over, which I guess is the right kind of feel for an early MJ track, even if the King of Pop sounds a bit shout-y at times. Young fellas need to get heard though, right?

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‘Party Lights’ by Jam Master

Jam Master immediately gets the funk and the handclaps out on this one, with the old school build-up arriving at about forty seconds in. That one ends, fittingly, with some horns, after which that typical bass sound takes over again. He lets those ride for a while before returning with the horns and, this time, the vocals. They’ve got a nice soulful ring to them as they ask you to boogie along with them as they “turn those party lights on”. I love the transition into the chorus, so smile-inducingly old school, after which they immediately announce they are going to boogie. At about 3:10 there’s this break in the action, with just some handclap sounds basically, and what I guess is the horn section who collectively shout out to “turn up those party lights”. I mean, it has that kind of vibe, three-man horn section in the back, playing those damn things to boogie the place up, and then during the drop they have their horns by their side as they sway back and forth and yell in the microphone to get those party lights on. The title says it all, it’s a funky party track with some delicious old school happiness to it.

‘Everything We Are’ by Slow Hands

Slow Hands will release a new EP through the Wolf+Lamb label, and this is a luscious track off of that. It’s got some nice, incessant drums that pop up on occassion, and that whispery voice certainly adds some mood to the whole thing. In the mean time something is going wrong in love country, with the lads singing that There’s nothing left to say and that you are The one that got away. I really like all those additional sounds they put in there at exactly the right moments, like that high synth, and those drums do give it a nice tinge of immediacy that go along well with the dramatic reading the vocalists give. Wolf+Lamb records always manages to churn out some quality, and this EP surely will be no different. Also comes with a Cameo Culture remix of this tune.

‘Got Me Moving’ by Sinden presents The Crystal System feat. SYF

"Party track!", that’s what this one screams right out of the gates. It’s got a punchy beat and some wavy, deep synths that the lads throw out there, though it are the piano and those vocals that are this track’s biggest strengths from the get go (even if I do think there’s something to that wavering, deeper synth that seemingly just lives on its own). That 1:30 momentum builder is build for the masses I do think, and SYF starts repeating the line “you got me moving” quicker and quicker before the track returns to normal again. This all is quickly followed by another drop, after which the track picks up some pace to give a bit of a jolt to those on the dancefloor. I would be lying if I said this is my favorite track SYF has worked on this year, but those vocals can get me to listen to an oral history of the aubergine on tape if that’s what he puts out. Sonny Fodera is one of the guys doing a remix on this though, and it seems like an album will be coming out some time, some place, so there you go.